Stormy Daniels is Still Considering a Run for Senate

Stormy Daniels for US Senate

Baton Rouge-native porn star and potential Senate candidate Stormy Daniels made a stop in Lafayette Thursday.  It was all part of her “Listening Tour,” as she explores a possible run against Senator David Vitter in 2010.

“So far if I had to make a decision based on how the response has been, I’d say yes,” said Daniels.

Although she is registered as Independent, Daniels has not said under which party affiliation she would run should she decide to do so.  Right now she is focused on getting to know the issues facing the state and people of Louisiana through her tour.

“It’s been very encouraging, very positive, everyone wants to know what my stances are,” said Daniels.

The porn star says she would like to make reforms to healthcare and sex education, but did not offer any specifics on how to do so.

“In terms of getting elected, that would be very surprising,” said Dr. Pearson Cross, head of the political science department at UL Lafayette.

Pearson says Daniels’ candidacy is a longshot, especially in a state in which an estimated one in four voters is a conservative Catholic.  Even if she would be running against an incumbent, who himself has admitted to a “very serious sin.”

“Regardless of how disgusted they may be or turned off by the other candidates, to move all the way over to support a porn star for Senate, that’s a bridge too far,” said Cross.

Daniels says she will make a decision on whether or not to run by the end of summer.

Taken from: http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=10638641

Interview with Anti-Porn Advocate Shelley Lubben

Shelley Lubben

I recently conducted an interview with Shelley Lubben who went by the name Roxy while she was an active adult performer in the mid-90’s.  Since leaving sex work, Shelley has become one of the most outspoken critics against the porn industry and has established the Pink Cross Foundation to help porn addicts and adult performers.  Shelly and I discussed her past, the struggles she endured as a porn performer, and her recovery.

Where and when were you born?

May 18, 1968 in Pasadena, California

What was your family life like early on?

My early childhood was pretty uneventful. I grew up in a middle class family. I was a Brownie, attended Sunday School and was very creative. I was an extremely energetic child and my mother says raising me was like raising twins.

I felt my parents ignored me and I began to make up stories like men were trying to kidnap me when I walked to school in order to get their attention. My Dad worked a lot and loved his garage.

What was your childhood like? Were you happy?

I was bored most of the time. My parents weren’t very involved in my life and much of the time I was on my own hanging out in the neighborhood. I was often writing and directing my own plays and skits beginning at age seven where I would invite neighborhood kids to come and watch.  My 1^st grade teacher told my mother I was a creative genius and my mother replied, “Oh yes she’s very peculiar.” The teacher told her I should be put into a creative program. My mother didn’t “get it”. I was never developed and grew up very frustrated. I was left to myself and began to get into trouble.

By age 9 I was sexually abused by a teenage boy and his sister, a classmate of mine. I had my first lesbian experience at that time. I was horrified. Immense shame and guilt followed me well into my adult years. I began masturbating at 9 years old. I looked for love in boys and realized if I gave them sex they would tell me how special I was. I longed for my parents, especially my father, to notice me and give me affection but he was a workaholic. My mother was a religious nag and drove me crazy. My family spent most of our quality time together in front of the TV so I grew up with people like Jack Tripper and Lucy Ricardo as my role models.

I was writing short stories and poetry beginning at age 8. I played guitar at age 9. I was very creative and musical.

My family attended church the first 8 years of my life and then we stopped going. I loved Sunday School and what I learned still remains with me to this day.

When I was around 7 Jesus told me I would be working for Him some day and He showed me a vision of me speaking to thousands of people in an arena. I was sure someday I would be a preacher and an author. Those were my childhood dreams.

Looking back, is there anything that happened in your childhood that made you turn to the adult industry?

Yes, one of the factors that ultimately led me to be in the adult industry was sexual abuse. The other factor was lack of parenting and proper child development.

At what age did you first start using drugs and alcohol?

Age 16 I started drinking and dabbling in drugs.

I read somewhere that you become involved in prostitution at a young age. How did that come about?

I was a prostitute right out of high school after I barely graduated. I was 18. I got pregnant by a client the following year and had a baby girl in June, 1988.

Shelley on an adult box cover in the mid-90's

How did you first become involved in the porn business?  How old were you?

I was 24 years old when a woman told me I should do porn and would make much more money. By this time I was exhausted from stripping and prostituting so porn sounded better. I was wrong. Nobody told me I would catch an STD. They gave me a false sense of security telling me if I tested I would be safe.

Describe the first time you filmed an adult scene. What do you remember about the experience?

I remember big red doors that led me to a very dark and seedy place where I saw a couch with sexy pillows and lighting all around it. Naked people walking around. A pornographer looked me up and down and asked for my HIV test and my i.d. At the time they didn’t test for anything else. It was a lesbian scene mostly with one guy. We were told to be college girls and have sex with each other. I was not at all interested in having sex with a woman I didn’t know. I was very nervous although I hid it. They asked me my stage name and I had been to the Roxy the night before so I just said, “Roxy” on the spot.

I went into the back, changed  my clothes and downed a bunch of Jack Daniels. They called my name to do my scene and I felt really awkward. I kept trying to figure out if I should shake hands with someone I was about to have sex with or how should I greet them? No one to really guide me.

The director explained what he wanted out of the scene. Nobody checked each others’ tests. I didn’t know we were supposed to do that. I was very nervous and was more focused on what the hell I was about to do. The scene started and something came over me, something very dark. I just started going crazy and took over the scene out to prove I was the best. The scene ended and they threw a rag at me to clean the “stuff” off my face. I felt totally humiliated and disgusting and had tears in my eyes but I turned my head to hide them and told myself to suck it up.

During the scene the producer kept cheering me on and saying things like, “Wow you’re going to be the next big porn star. I never saw anybody give a *** like that. You are so hot Roxy”….blah blah blah. I was desperate to be noticed and so the attention was like a drug for me. I was desperate for attention. Of course the fast money was a major attraction.

After the scene the producer told me he was setting me up with a big producer where I would be doing pro movies with people like Peter North, Nikki Sinn, Ron Jeremy…. I was thinking no way would I do another movie but I really believed I had no other option. I was a single parent and totally burned out from stripping and prostitution. I took the bait and next thing you know I’m doing whatever they asked me to. I had something to prove and they KNEW I would prove it. I had to prove I was better than everyone else so I did very hardcore scenes early on in my so-called career.

You are very anti-porn these days. What are some of the negative things that you witnessed during your time in the adult business?

Where do I start. I saw and participated in drug use. We stood around naked waiting for our scene outside in the backyard where we were filming in and smoked pot and sniffed meth, coke, and whatever else was available. We got drunk in the back rooms or high in the bathroom. Some pornographers said no drugs but that just meant no drugs near the “set”.

I saw girls crying their eyes out and screaming like maniacs. I remember when I was just new I thought to myself “Why are the women so bitchy?” I found out later why of course. I saw women vomiting while their heads were forced up and down some guy’s large penis. I was one of them who gagged and vomited several times on set even though I put my hand up to stop them. They didn’t stop. I saw pornographers make women do scenes they didn’t agree to and threaten them if they didn’t. I was one of them. I experienced disgusting work conditions where rags of crap, pee and blood were thrown on the floor next to where we were “acting”. Women had hair pulled and faces smacked. We were called whore, bitch, cunt, slut and the list goes on. I was forced to do a scene I did not agree to. The pornographer threatened me and I was so naïve about it all that I actually thought he would and could sue me. I remember being very sore that day after doing so much anal sex.

I saw and experienced torn body parts. I saw used sponges and enemas on the floor in the bathroom. NOTHING was ever sanitary. The industry was and is still totally unregulated and operating ILLEGALLY according to Cal Osha’s Adult Film Standards which you can read at http://www.dir.ca.gov/DOSH/AdultFilmIndustry.html . I also saw and experienced a lot of prostitution. Pornographers set us up and we flew around the country to have sex with high dollar clients. They often expected sex without a condom and paid us enough money to do it.

Shelley Lubben

According to the IAFD (Internet Adult Film Database) you only appeared in about a dozen films over a couple of years in the industry. Do you feel like you were involved in adult films long enough to form an accurate opinion about the entire industry?

I appeared in more than a dozen films. The IAFD doesn’t list them all and also some of them are too old or too amateur to be listed.

I was in the porn industry and lived the lifestyle about 2 years. That’s long enough. Between prostitution, pornographers and performing I definitely received a big taste of the porn industry. And I have the herpes and early cervical cancer to prove it.

Your life was obviously headed in the wrong direction before you started doing porn, so do you feel like porn made it any worse? Was your recovery more difficult because you were involved with pornography than say if you were just a stripper and a prostitute?

Yes porn made it worse. The porn industry attracts and lures in people who are damaged and damages them more. They lure in the sexually exploited because they are vulnerable and will agree to be more sexually exploited. Anyway, it’s all about money. None of us enjoys making porn. It’s extremely traumatizing and hard work. There are over 100 porn stars easily who have confessed in interviews or their blogs how hard making porn is. Anyone can go online and find this information. Not to mention all the deaths in the last 20 years or even the last couple years from HIV, Suicide, Drug overdose and Homicide. No other industry kills more people due to the negative effects I just mentioned than the porn industry.

Yes, my recovery was harder due to making hardcore movies. I did things in porn I never did in prostitution.

What were some of the negative consequences you experienced personally from performing in adult films?

Herpes. Early Cervical Cancer where half of my Cervix had to be removed. Three pregnancy losses due to porn. One of them entopic and two were miscarriages. My reproductive system was very damaged after I did porn. I did prostitution 6 years and used a condom and never caught an STD. STDS lead to cervical cancer and other reproductive damage.

I also was diagnosed with mental disorders and had major emotional problems that took 8 years of hard work to recover from.

You have spoke in the past about the illusion of porn. Tell the readers about that.

Yes I have spoken about the lie of porn on the web, tv, radio interviews, churches, government and secular organizations since 2004. Since then more than a dozen other women and men have joined me and spoken out as well. And the cause grows as more and more people contact us for help and want to speak out. Every month a porn performer joins our cause and speaks out against the porn industry.

Shelley Lubben founder of the Pink Cross Foundation

There are some women who are adamant that they enjoy performing in adult films and are able to express themselves sexually by performing. What would you say to them?

I love you but bullshit. Then I would try to get them to open up and share their history and background with me which often causes porn stars to run away. Funny how they hate to talk about their childhood and history.

Remember, it’s ALWAYS about the money, not sexual expression. If it’s about sexual expression then why don’t porn stars ever work for free?

What are some statistics you have about the adult film industry?

I have been researching the porn industry for about three years and share statistics below. I can’t even keep up with all the deaths happening lately. So sad.

http://www.shelleylubben.com/index.php?truth=porn

See stats on the left. If you just want quick stats you can visit www.thepinkcross.org and they are on the right. You may check out my blog for recent deaths.

What caused you to give up making adult films? What was the final straw for you personally?

HERPES!

What was the hardest thing about walking away from adult entertainment?  What was the most difficult thing to give up?

The money $$$. The attention.

After leaving porn did you continue using drugs and working as a prostitute?

I did try to go back to prostitution but it was short lived due to me infecting a married couple with Herpes and being a total wreck due to increased drug and alcohol use in the porn industry. There were LOTS and LOTS of parties I went to where drugs and alcohol were in abundant supply and given freely. Pornographers also loved to give us drugs and alcohol. Good for business if we were intoxicated because then WE WOULD DO ANYTHING.

Have you been diagnosed with any mental disorders?

Yes. I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, Impulse Control Disorder, Alcohol Dependence, Depressive Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I was prescribed zoloft, sleeping pills, lithium and counseling.

Most recovering addicts describe a definite low point in their lives. When did you hit rock bottom?  When did you realize that you had to change your life?

I hit rock bottom several times but was spared by God. I overdosed and tried to commit suicide several times in my 8 year involvement in the sex industry. One suicide attempt and overdose was right after I caught Herpes. That was rock bottom for me.

How long after leaving the adult film business did you clean up your life? Was it though Christ or therapy? Or both?

Right after I left I made a serious decision to really seek God whose love and faithfulness was revealed to me through Jesus Christ. The Bible says those who diligently seek God find Him and I really did find Him, met Him in a very personal way and He did everything His book said He could do. He healed me from substance abuse, mental disorders, emotional disorders, flashbacks, horrible memories and healed my mind and THEN even did above and beyond and blessed everything my husband and I set our hands to. It’s like I won the lotto. That’s how GOOD God is. People think He’s mean and doesn’t care but they just don’t know Him. They haven’t even tried to get to know Him. Unfortunately the church has done a terrible job at revealing God to people. I am not a church person. I am Christian who believes in love and serving people that I might compel them to step into the Light and live the life they were truly meant to live. A life of purpose, meaning and beauty.

I tired therapy but didn’t work. I don’t think they were prepared to help someone like me. They prescribed me the medication listed above and made me watch anger management videos.

When did you first start working to help porn performers?

Women started contacting me in 2005. It was hard to go back to the industry after so many years. It had changed so much. It’s worse now. It’s much bigger now. I started really going after the porn stars and reaching out to them on the web in 2006 and I began to get response after response from girls telling me how screwed up the industry is and that their agent fucked them over and so and so ripped them off and how they caught HPV or another STD. Some had their cervixes removed at age 22! Some were force fed meth and slapped and spit on. Horror story after horror story and I became enraged. I knew I had to do something about it.

Shelley Lubben

Having been involved in prostitution longer than you were an adult actress why is it that your main focus is on porn these days? Why don’t you focus more on helping prostitutes?

That’s not my calling. I only do what my Father tells me to and when it’s truly the work of God, it is successful.  This is the first time in history so many women and men have left porn and are also speaking out.

Do you feel like prostitution is a larger problem since there are more women involved in prostitution than porn?

Porn stars ARE prostitutes. Porn IS prostitution and DOES involve prostitution so it’s all the same problem. Agents are pimps and porn stars are prostitutes.

http://www.lukeisback.com/essays/essays/prostitution.htm

Do you feel like the viewers of pornography are victims as well?

Absolutely.

Some girls in the industry claim to live healthy, happy lives. Do you think that there are drug-free, well adjusted adult performers anywhere out there or are all porn performers miserable?

I haven’t met one yet. I’d love to.

Porn has become a big business. Used to almost every performer walked away from the business empty handed. These days there are a select few that walk away millionaires or at least very wealthy. What would you say about them? Is it possible that porn has made some lives better?

No, it just means they get to live a little more luxurious. They pay the same ugly price. Maybe a bigger price since they are now stuck in a luxurious life style they have to pay for.

Do you think that the mainstream entertainment industry exploits women in some of the same ways the porn industry does?

No, not the same way. They aren’t forced to gag on some guy’s penis or being slapped in the face while called a whore. They also don’t risk their lives physically like porn performers do. Even Dr. Sharon Mitchell confesses that 66% of porn performers are Herpes carriers. We don’t hear statistics like that in the mainstream entertainment industry. Statistics show the death rate in the porn industry due to HIV, Suicide, Drug overdose and Homicide is more than the mainstream entertainment industry. It’s not hard to add the numbers up.

We are a society obsessed with sex. Some of your critics would argue that the problems you expose are part of a broader more cultural problem. What do you say to that?

I agree. We definitely have a huge sexualized culture thanks to the porn industry. Companies like Playboy glamorized it and exposed us to it and others followed.

When did you start the Pink Cross Foundation?

It officially began on January 24, 2009 but took a little over a year to do the legal paperwork and set up business.

Tell the readers what the Pink Cross Foundation is all about?

Pink Cross Foundation is a faith-based IRS approved 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to reaching out to adult industry workers offering emotional, financial and transitional support. We largely focus on reaching out to the adult film industry offering support to porn stars. Pink Cross Foundation also reaches out to those struggling with pornography offering education and resources to recover.

How can adult film performers and addicts contact you?

Porn performers can contact me at help@thepinkcross.org and porn addicts can get help at www.thepinkcross.org where we offer a free web site membership where they can receive help from the Pink Cross Team which is made up of recovering porn addicts, ex porn stars and ex drug users and on and on. We’re a bunch of Ragamuffins who have been there and care.

Tell the readers about your life today.

Shelley Lubben and her husband

I’m a mother of three beautiful and healthy daughters. I live in Bakersfield, California, in a nice home my husband and I own. My husband and I are ordained Chaplains who love to help porn stars and porn addicts and pretty much anyone who crosses our path. I fight porn. I attend a University where I am pursuing my Bachelor’s Degree in Theology/Counseling. I love gardening and roses are my specialty. I study great reformers and American History.

How long have you been married?

I have been married 14 years since Feb. 14, 1995. I married a Pastor’s son who loved a beat up and broken sex worker.

Do you still struggle with your past or have temptation to return to your old lifestyle?

I don’t struggle with my past but I admit my present is pretty stressful. No, I do not have temptation to go back into sex work. The grass on the other side really is greener.

How long have you been clean and sober?

I got clean the minute I turned back to God in 1994 thanks to the Cross of Jesus Christ. Sobriety didn’t happen until 2000.

What would you say to a girl who is considering appearing in adult films?

Don’t do it. You are made for greater things than porn. And everything I wrote above.

Is there anything you would like to promote or websites you would like to tell the readers about?

I’d love to!

Pink Cross Foundation at www.thepinkcross.org

My personal web site at www.shelleylubben.com

Any final words you would like to say?

Yes, to the porn stars.

I love you. I love you. I love you. I’m here for you.

Shelley Lubben

Shelley on an adult box cover in the mid-90’s

Shelley Lubben

Shelley Lubben founder of the Pink Cross Foundation

Shelley Lubben

Shelley Lubben and her husband

Jack Wrangler Dead at 62

Jack Wrangler Dead at 62

Jack Wrangler, the handsome gay porn star that everyone thought was bisexual, is dead. He was 62 and as handsome as ever. A life-long smoker, he recently had trouble with a lung disease that took his life after a long illness and died “peaceful and comfortable,” according to his doctor, Wendy S. Ziecheck. He should also be remembered as a tireless activist for AIDS/HIV causes.

Wrangler never hid behind the “bisexual” label, but let people think he was, especially since he had a longterm relationship with his wife, and other women, throughout his life.

I was part of a team that honored Wrangler into the Gay Erotic Video Awards Hall of Fame in 1992, and he put his bare feet and hand prints into the Porn Walk of Fame at the TomKat Theatre in West Hollywood, Calif. We got to spend some personal time together.

“I never hid behind saying I was ‘bisexual,’ I always knew I was more attracted to men,” Wrangler told me when we were awarding him the porn Hall of Fame award. “But I think there’s something to a gay man who has great sex with women—I think a lot more guys do that than talk about it, and it’s not necessarily bisexual.”

He married Margaret Whiting and very much loved her. In fact, she was at the awards show when we gave him his award (but they didn’t marry until 1994). He recently told Gay Wired:

“When I met Margaret, no one was more surprised than me when I fell in love with her. We knew right away. We became friends, and when we first started going together… I mean, I was out. I’m not straight, I’m not bisexual—I’m gay. When I got with Margaret, I knew I had to change course. She would have my bags packed and sitting outside the door when I got home at night and things like that. Plus I would go through massive guilt whenever I did go out with a guy and I was with her. So I finally said that’s it. I went to her one night and said I’m never going to cheat on you again with anybody. So my sex life became very masturbatory. And I’m good at that—very good at that, in fact.”

Wrangler did 85 porn videos, some of them straight, some of them gay. In fact, he’s one of the rare performers who went from the gay adult videos into hetero porn (when there was far less stigma to gay men doing that!)  He said he first had sex with a woman on film (in “China Sisters” in 1978). He was just always very sexual, and never had trouble getting it up for anyone or anything, he said.

He also told the Windy City Times:

“I just couldn’t live the gay lifestyle; it’s too hard to live. I’m very competitive, and with two guys having the same kind of thoughts, it’ll always be too hard for me. With a woman, there are different kinds of challenges because [ women ] come from a different place. Your interactions [ with women ] are always going to be surprising and different, whereas with a guy it’s one-on-one. It was just too hard; I tried it.”

Recently, at the GayVN Awards in San Francisco, the recent documentary “Wrangler, Anatomy of an Icon” by TLA Releasing, won Best Alternative Title, which is what they award to titles that are about the adult industry but aren’t really porn. A lot of the people shown in the documentary were in the audience that night, but not Wrangler, who was in New York, and heard about the win soon after it was announced.

Playwright Robert Patrick, porn directors Jerry Douglas and Chi Chi LaRue, porn star and director Gino Colbert, Hollywood funnyman Bruce Vilanch, journalist Michael Musto, porn star Joe Gage and many other friends of mine appear in the documentary.

Robert Patrick, my friend for more than a decade, not only performed with Wrangler, but authored the play, “T-Shirts” that they were in together. He wrote me this morning with the sad news and offered a picture that is in the slide show below.

“Jack, a Hollywood child (Marilyn Monroe baby-sat him), was getting nowhere much as an actor when a porn movie was offered him. He consulted with his father, a producer of “Bonanza,” who told him “just be the best.” Jack took his screen-name from his jeans and became the first identifiable personality on the tiny, blurry screens of gay porn. At a time when most “adult” actors wore socks and even masks, he created a persona modeled on the Marlboro man — butch. beautiful, and unashamed. And imitated! The gay “clone” look (plaid shirt, jeans) was inspired by Jack’s signature outfit. Having conquered gay porn with no real competition, he moved on to the more lucrative straight area.”

Before he got married he told Margaret he was gay, and she famously said, “Only around the edges, dear.” Wrangler himself told me, “It gets controversial with people always trying to label you, trying to understand you. I just let people think of me however they wanted, and I didn’t usually argue. People could fantasize about me however they wanted, that was just fine with me.”

Take a look at the video clips of Wrangler talking at one of this movie screenings, and below that is the trailer for the documentary. Also, I’ve compiled some of the more classic pictures of this handsome man, and see some personal photos, too.

http://www.examiner.com/x-3366-Bisexuality-Examiner~y2009m4d7-Jack-Wrangler-gay-porn-star-married-to-a-woman-is-dead-at-63

Effort underway to draft Stormy Daniels to run for Congress

Stormy for US Senate

Could you imagine a porn star Congresswoman?  Well there is a website that is urging Stormy Daniels to run for a Senate seat in her home state of Louisiana in 2010.  The website is draftstormy.com.  There is a petition that you can sign to join with others to encourage Stormy to run.

Stormy is a very well spoken and bright woman, especially for a porn star.  Is it possible for an adult entertainer to have a successful political career?  Other mainstream entertainers have run successful campaigns; is it only a matter of time before a porn star does?  Who would have ever thought they would hear things like “Governor Schwarzenegger” or “Senator Al Franken” 10 years ago?  Considering we just elected our first African-American president who’s middle name happens to be Hussein, I suppose anything is possible.

Vote on our poll!

Max Hardcore Sentanced To 3 Years 10 Months

Max Hardcore

Max Hardcore, 50, was sentenced to 46 months in prison today.  Max whose real name is Paul Little was indicted on 10 counts of producing and distributing obscene material via the Internet and mail.  Little was also fined $7,500 as was his company Max World Entertainment.  Little was ordered to surrender the obscene material and forfeit all profits from the selling of the material.  The conviction stems from extreme videos produced in 2006, depicting women swallowing urine, vomit and other bodily fluids.  Little directed, produced and performed in the videos.  He asked the judge for leniency at sentencing stating,

“It just seems a very high price to pay, I think,” Little told U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew, “and I ask you to understand how much I’ve suffered.”

His attorneys plan on appealing his conviction.

Max Hardcore videos are almost always rough and degrading.  There is a fair amount of urination, gagging, and rough anal sex.  The women in the videos are paid and willing participants but often cry, throw up, and generally appear to be disgusted by what they are being paid to do.  Max contends that the crying is all an act.  Still when watching one of his videos it is very difficult to tell the where the acting ends and pain begins.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/03/040216/judge-sentences-porn-producer-46-month-prison/

40 Years Of Marilyn Chambers

Marilyn Chambers 1952-2009

A true icon of the adult film business has died.  Marilyn Chambers was found dead in her mobile home Sunday by her daughter McKenna.  She was a pioneer in adult entertainment and was one of the first adult film stars to become a household name.  Before there was Ginger or Jenna, there was Marilyn.  The cause of death is not known at this time.  I will post more as soon as I know.

Meanwhile here is a report I found about her death…

In 1972, a movie called Behind the Green Door proved that ordinary Americans would sit through a feature-length experimental art film with vague intimations of the occult, if it meant they got to watch Marilyn Chambers having sex. This was back when the porn industry was in effect cross-subsidizing the avant-garde film community, thus demonstrating its redeeming artistic merit and staying—sometimes—on the tolerant side of the law. In this case, the results were memorably strange: Chambers’ picture was based on a piece of folklore, but—as with the street poem that inspired another classic of lowbrow ’70s surrealism, Dolemite—it wasn’t the sort of folktale that ordinarily appeared on a movie screen.

Before that career-defining role, Chambers was best known as the model on the Ivory Snow soap box (advertised as “99 & 44/100 percent pure”). She went on to appear in David Cronenberg’s cult horror picture Rabid and a host of X-rated movies, and in 2004 she ran for vice president on the Personal Choice ticket, a spinoff of sorts from the Libertarian Party. She was later involved in the Boston Tea Party, another Libertarian offshoot, and in some states she served last year as the BTP’s vice-presidential candidate.

This past weekend she died of causes unknown, a week shy of her 57th birthday. She was, in her way, one of the cultural icons of 1970s America, and I hope she rests in peace.

Marilyn Chambers on the infamous Ivory Snow box

http://reason.com/blog/show/132873.html

Marilyn Chambers (born Marilyn Ann Briggs, April 22, 1952, in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.) is a former American pornographic actress and stripteaser perhaps best known for her 1972 hardcore debut Behind the Green Door.

Early life

According to John Hubner’s book Bottom Feeders, (1994), Chambers came from a middle-class household. Her father was in advertising and her mother was a nurse. She was the youngest of three children. Her father tried to discourage her from pursuing a modeling career, citing brutal competition. Chambers landed some modeling gigs and a small role in the Barbra Streisand starred The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), where she was credited as “Evelyn Lang”. Her parents were not impressed, so she moved to Los Angeles for more work. But she didn’t get any roles, except for a low-budget film Together (1971), in which she appeared nude. Depressed, she left Los Angeles for San Francisco where she held several jobs, including work as a topless model and a bottomless dancer. She also married a hippie named Doug (whose surname she did not provide to writer-researcher John Hubner).

Adult film career

Chambers happened to see an advertisement for a casting call, and rushed to the audition only to find out that it was for a porno film. She was about to leave when the Mitchell brothers stopped her, because of her resemblance to Cybill Shepherd, and feeling that a wholesome blond actress was needed for their film. (At this point, they did not realize that she was the “cover girl” on the Ivory Snow soap box; she posed as the woman holding the baby. According to some urban legends, Chambers was the baby; this turned out to be false, as was the claim that the baby was Brooke Shields). The product’s manufacturer, Procter & Gamble quickly dropped her after discovering her double life as an adult film actress. Chambers, who was initially ambivalent about starring in Behind the Green Door, asked the Mitchell brothers, Artie and Jim, for a $25,000 salary and a percentage of the gross, never expecting that they would agree. After filming concluded, she dropped the Ivory Snow bombshell, which resulted in her being billed as the “99 and 44/100% pure” girl.

In the film, Chambers had sex with the well-endowed African-American actor Johnny Keyes. She also fainted at the end of one scene lasting over 45 minutes. The porno industry and viewing public were shocked by the then-taboo spectacle of a white woman having sex with a black man. (Chambers’ parents refused to talk to her for several years after the film’s release, but eventually reconciled with her). In subsequent porno films with John Holmes, who was noted for his extremely large penis, Chambers “talked dirty” to him off-camera to give him an erection. Eventually, mainstream films noticed Chambers, who in 1977, nabbed a major role in David Cronenberg’s Rabid. However, her adult film career made Hollywood studios nervous, and hence she was unable to transition to mainstream films.

She was noted for her enthusiastic performances of deep throat, anal, lesbian, interracial, extreme bukkake, and double or triple penetration scenes. She was one of the first female stars to shave her pubic hair, a practice now routine for porn actresses. Chambers continues to appear in porn films for such companies as Naughty America and MILF Hunter. Later in her career, she had a series of breast augmentations raising her from a B-cup to at least a D. She is reputedly one of the first porn actresses to have her genitals pierced.

Her first marriage ended after the release of Behind the Green Door. During her 1975-1985 marriage to porn producer/director/manager Chuck Traynor, Chambers continued in both mainstream and porn films. After that marriage ended, Chambers married for the third time to truck driver Tom Taylor. She gave birth to their daughter, McKenna Marie Taylor, in 1991, before that marriage also ended in divorce. Chambers has admitted to writer John Hubner and other interviewers that she has battled drug and alcohol addiction in the past.

In recent years, Chambers has appeared primarily in independent films, claiming that their more laid back pace suits her as “there’s a lot less pressure on you to perform (and) you don’t have to be young and skinny.”

Other work

* Marilyn Chambers also had some chart success with the Disco single “Benihana” in 1976, produced by Michael Zager on the Roulette Records label. In the 2004 United States presidential election, Marilyn Chambers ran for Vice President on the Personal Choice Party ticket, a quasi-libertarian party. She received a total of 946 votes.

Fictional portrayals

* In 2000, Tracy Hutson played Chambers in the made-for-cable biopic about the Mitchell Brothers, Rated X.

Literature

* Nicolas Barbano: Verdens 25 hotteste pornostjerner (Rosinante, Denmark 1999) ISBN 87-7357-961-0: Features a chapter on her.

Taken from Wikipedia